Dubai: Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey probably sums it up best: "How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean."
Many people spend their lifetime never putting their heads underwater, never intrigued by the parallel universe that starts just a few metres below the surface and goes to depths so deep, they remain unexplored by man.
Despite more than 70 per cent of the world being covered in ocean, few people really care about protecting them and all that live beneath them.
Dubai-based Ernst van der Poll has a proactive approach to this. The South African scuba diver with close to 9,000 dives under his weight belt started a programme that not only teaches school children how to scuba dive, but reconnects them to a foreign concept: nature.
In 2002 while teaching scuba courses at some of Dubai's local schools and through conversation with his students, he saw that a lot of children growing up today have very little connection and attachment to nature.
Reaching out
"Never have we lived in an age where we know exactly what consequences our actions have to the future of our planet and its delicate ecosystems. With scary precisions we are even able to pinpoint in years when there will be no more fish or corals but still we don't do anything to prevent it," said Van der Poll.
With so few young people connected to their environment, where are the future environmentalists and marine biologists?
Tawasul [which means To Reach Out in Arabic] helps young people connect to nature by inspiring them, hopefully invoking passion and letting them spend quality time in an environment full of some of the most amazing life form on the planet.
Van der Poll started going to schools and explaining why it is important to care. Several schools now have small groups registered to complete a full dive course, at a reduced cost.
"Passion is the long distance fuel in our struggle to preserve our natural resources. Passion does not get delivered through school books, television, the internet, malls or computer games," said Van der Poll.
Recently-qualified diver Firas Saab, 16, Lebanese-Australian from Wellington School in Dubai, agrees. "Once I completed the dives it put it all in perspective. In class you learn about it all in a general way but when you're under water you can really observe everything," he said.
Saab said he has learnt how to calculate his ecological footprint as well, something he had no idea about.
For Van der Poll creating that passion is a stepping stone to giving young people stewardship of their planet.
"It teaches them a sense of ownership and a realisation that every little decision we make on this earth will impact our future...a future that is connected to the ocean in more ways we could ever realise."
Roy Green, 12, British and also at Wellington School would like to get involve in all the Tawasul programmes.
"I knew that dolphins were being caught and stuff but not to that extent. It is really severe because in a couple of years there might not be any left," he said, after having watched documentary-film The Cove on Japan's dolphin butchering.
Tawasul has received a lot of support from Baraka, an organisation that invests in social and environmental businesses. In turn, Tawasul supports the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCRF) through which a handful of children have been able to go underwater, an experience they may never otherwise have had in Gaza. Four had missing limbs and another has cerebral palsy.
More info: Check out the link to learn about Tawasul
For more information on Tawasul visit: www.tawasul.ning.com or contact Ernst Van der Poll at Ernst@mytawasul.com
Would you let your child scuba dive? Do you know young people who prefer being outdoors? Or are children losing their connection with Nature?
